Medical facilities are aware that some of their patient population is at risk of committing suicide, specifically hanging, while being treated in the medical facility. These suicides, referred to in the industry as sentinel events, typically occur either in the bathroom or in the shower stall of the medical facility.
Public use bathrooms typically have bathroom stalls, including a bathroom door and doorknob. The bathroom doors can be used as a platform or location for holding a belt or a piece of clothing to aid in committing suicide by hanging. Various systems for reducing sentinel events have been proposed, such as the sentinel event reduction system set forth in U.S. Pat. No. 7,024,823 entitled Sentinel Event Reduction System, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
The bathroom doorknob can also be used as a platform or location for holding a belt or a piece of clothing to aid in committing suicide by hanging.
Every bathroom or unit in a medical facility cannot be watched at the same time without enormous staff resources. Therefore, bathrooms, and specifically bathroom doorknobs, provide an area of opportunity for a sentinel event for patients at risk for suicide. Shower knobs also can be a problem.
To date, the problems of sentinel events in bathrooms are typically addressed by removing all bathroom stall hardware, including doors and doorknobs. While this reduces opportunities for sentinel events, it likewise eliminates all privacy that a patient may have.
It should be noted that the Figures are not drawn to scale and that elements of similar structures or functions are generally represented by like reference numerals for illustrative purposes throughout the Figures. It also should be noted that the Figures are only intended to facilitate the description of the disclosed embodiments. The Figures do not illustrate every aspect of the disclosed embodiments and do not limit the scope of the disclosed embodiments.